I am getting ready for my adventures of the upcoming concerts and wanted to start this thread as I am so excited!
To start I will be attending the Victoria and Vancouver (my hometown!) concerts. Its about a 3 hour drive north and then
the beautiful ferry crossing to Victoria through the Gulf Islands (90 minutes)...in the summer it is amazing to sit outside and watch...
There has been snow, ice and bitter cold temperatures the last week which is highly unusual for this time of year...
usually if we get it at all its near the end of December.
Yesterday the weather warmed up (a bit) and the snow is all being washed away replaced by rain.
Still damp and chilly but normal weather for the coast this time of year. Quite the change from Australia.
Vancouver and Victoria are both beautiful cities.
It will be such a joy and pleasure to welcome Leonard and the band and crew back to Canada!
I went all the way to Sligo this summer as I didn't think I would get a chance to see Leonard again in North America this year.
I have no regrets as the 2 concerts there were absolutely fabulous and still touch my heart with the memories of the people I met and
both concerts which were unbelievable...
but I am happy to be able to attend the Pacific Northwest concerts in my own 'backyard' with family and good friends.
Can hardly wait!
Leslie/Mutti

Leonard Cohen's performance Tuesday in Victoria will be show No. 241 on his tour schedule.
When the trek comes to a close in December, its final tally will likely read: a staggering
247 dates completed, more than 6,000 songs performed, and approximately 741 hours of onstage
greatness.Photograph by: Handout, u99/ZUMA/Keystone Press

During the opening night of what would eventually become a triumphant comeback tour -- what one could argue was one of the most astonishing in recent memory -- Leonard Cohen played to just 700 people at a theatre in Fredericton, N.B.

Attendance for the first tour in 15 years from the grandmaster of singer-songwriters only got better as it went along. Nearly every stop that followed Fredericton -- from Oslo to Athens -- saw Cohen and his band play to audiences nearly 10 times that size. Suffice it to say, few world tours in recent memory have been so warmly received.

Now, with the tour in its third calendar year, the end for Cohen and his bandmates appears to have arrived. According to Cohen's longtime musical director, bassist Roscoe Beck, there's nothing on the tour schedule beyond Dec. 11, the second of two Caesars Palace concerts in Las Vegas.

"We'll see what happens after that," Beck said.

Cohen's performance Tuesday in Victoria will be show No. 241 on the schedule. When the trek comes to a close in December, its final tally will likely read: a staggering 247 dates completed, more than 6,000 songs performed, and approximately 741 hours of onstage greatness.

Beck, reached earlier in the tour during a stop in Wellington, New Zealand, has a clear recollection of the tour's early performances. Beck had toured with Cohen numerous times in the past, so the act of playing with the Montreal native wasn't a particularly extraordinary achievement in itself. Cohen felt the same way at first, Beck said. He was equally unprepared for what awaited him.

"There was some expectation, via the promoters, that this could be a very big, successful tour. But still, Leonard would say things to me like, 'Gee, I wonder if there's an audience out there for me.'"

Once the shows started to unspool, Beck knew it was shaping up to be a rarefied tour, courtesy of a very special and unique performer. "Once we started performing, the reception for him was so warm. It was overwhelming. Having toured with him before, I knew his fans were very devoted and very enthusiastic. But the numbers of fans now who feel that way are much greater."

The 76-year-old singer has been in huge demand for the better part of four years. His resurgence in popularity got underway in 2006 with the release of Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man, a concert and documentary during which his work was feted by U2, Rufus Wainwright, Nick Cave and others. That predated a massive reissue campaign by Cohen's label, Columbia Records, which put the majority of Cohen's catalogue, complete with bonus tracks and expanded artwork, back in stores in 2007.

Multiple releases in each following year prove that, no matter how much Cohen is being offered, fans continue to lust for more. New songs have been written, three of which -- "The Darkness," "Feels So Good," "Born in Chains" -- are in the setlist for Cohen's upcoming Canadian performances, which also includes a Dec. 2 appearance in Vancouver.

Beck has played in the neighbourhood of 500 shows with Cohen, dating back to their first tour together in 1979. The evolution of their relationship has been ongoing, Beck said, as Cohen never stays in one frame of mind for long. But the one aspect of life with Cohen that never changes, according to Beck, is the emotion involved.

"If you could play these songs without making an emotional connection, you wouldn't be the right musician to be playing them. You wouldn't belong in this band."

Cohen is a notoriously private public figure. In every sense, he lets the music do the talking. Beck has a clear indication of who Cohen is as a person, in spite of the singer's well-documented modesty when it comes to his own music.

That is the one trait that makes him difficult to read, Beck said.

"He's certainly aware that the tour is a great success. As to how he judges his own work over the years, I have no idea. That's not something he really speaks of. I spend a lot of time with Leonard away from the bandstand, and that is something he never speaks of.

"Every now and then, I might remind him of some old song we're not currently playing and will spontaneously start singing one of his older songs, or pull out a guitar and start playing, and he'll turn around and go, 'That's a good song' with a little smile on his face."

Mutti - I'm so envious - enjoy yourself! Seeing LC play at home is truly special. I bought tickets for Vancouver as I am going to be in Vancouver for work next week (I live in Ottawa). At the last minute a meeting changed and I have to be in Montreal on December 2nd - argh. A friend bought my Vancouver seats (floor, 5th row centre), I'm sure he'll have a wonderful time. But to think I'll be there from the 29th to the 1st and unable to attend the concert! I have tickets to the December 11th show in LV, but as exciting as that concert will be, I'd prefer to see him again at home. You're incredibly fortunate. Please post often and I'll live vicariously through you.

mutti wrote:I am getting ready for my adventures of the upcoming concerts and wanted to start this thread as I am so excited!
To start I will be attending the Victoria and Vancouver (my hometown!) concerts. Its about a 3 hour drive north and then
the beautiful ferry crossing to Victoria through the Gulf Islands (90 minutes)...in the summer it is amazing to sit outside and watch...
There has been snow, ice and bitter cold temperatures the last week which is highly unusual for this time of year...
usually if we get it at all its near the end of December.
Yesterday the weather warmed up (a bit) and the snow is all being washed away replaced by rain.
Still damp and chilly but normal weather for the coast this time of year. Quite the change from Australia.
Vancouver and Victoria are both beautiful cities.
It will be such a joy and pleasure to welcome Leonard and the band and crew back to Canada!
I went all the way to Sligo this summer as I didn't think I would get a chance to see Leonard again in North America this year.
I have no regrets as the 2 concerts there were absolutely fabulous and still touch my heart with the memories of the people I met and
both concerts which were unbelievable...
but I am happy to be able to attend the Pacific Northwest concerts in my own 'backyard' with family and good friends.
Can hardly wait!
Leslie/Mutti

Concert time in Victoria is fast approaching to kick off the final leg of The World Tour. And we all feel your excitement, Leslie.

Looking forward to all the concert reports and other happenings with fellow Cohenites.

And while you are in Canada, please remember to sample a Timbit for me at Tim Hortons.

Several Canadian newspapers have picked up the Mike Devlin article that "Fontana" posted above.
A friend in Toronto sent me the same article that appeared in the National Post today. And from the same issue, she also sent me this interesting chronology of photos. I found it fascinating to see them all on one page. ---Arlene

Today the band travels by sea plane to Victoria for a show this evening. It’s rainy and grey this morning, so a hearty breakfast from legandary local eatery Naam is the perfect way to start the day.
- Vancouver, Canada

An hour to go and eating in a Thai restaurant near the venue. Saw Mutti and Marie at the Empress where it seems the band is staying as Javiar and the Webbs checked in whilst I was waiting in reception.

Last year was memorable here as we were on the front row buy this year further back but the sound is good anywhere. No pictures tonight but the next 3 shows am up front again. Edited 600 images from Salzburg the other night.

inthenick Nick - Other bands could learn a few things from Leonard Cohen. Like start on time. And play your heart out for over 3 hrs. And be a classy dude.

davingreenwell Davin Greenwell - by jwalsh - Leonard Cohen: 75 years old and a wicked 3.25 hour set. Artists a third his age have trouble with a set a third as long. Just sayin'. from Fairfield, Victoria

sarahpetrescu sarahpetrescu - All this office kibbitzing about how amazing Leonard Cohen was last night is breaking my heart. #missedit